Transcript of Episode:

Aloha friend, I'm Mel, a really curious yarn fan who loves knitting, and is also obsessed with encouraging you to feel the same. No matter where you are in your journey. Whether you're an adventurous knitter or one in the making, we've got more in common than you might expect. It wasn't so long ago, I get frustrated with too many cast ons, but never any completed projects, or endless piles of wavy yarn from ripped out knits. Fast forward to today. I love learning from languishing projects, and so called failed ones to every aspect of my life fuels my creativity, and my creativity adds to my enjoyment of life. I created this podcast to share tips, mind shifts and challenges to help you do the same. So if you're a thoughtfully creative spirit, or someone wanting to grow in that direction, looking to love all the perfect nets you make and embrace the ones with feature design elements to you're in the right place, friend, welcome to encourage better your knitting podcast

Aloha from Kodiak, Alaska. If you've spent some time with me here, or on my YouTube channel, you've heard and seen this beautiful land. It's important to me to share about this area as Alutiiq homeland. They are the first people in this area. And I'd like to invite all of you to learn more about the rich heritage and art of the Alutiiq people. In today's show notes, I'm going to link the Alutiiq Museum, which is a museum here and an archaeological repository. Yeah, right here in Kodiak, the museum shares vast amounts of free resources. And there's a tab on their website about weaving. It has some still shots, some images of weaving, and how the weaving looks from the history of the Alutiiq people. But it also has videos, video interviews, and just so much information. And I invite you, I welcome you to learn and discover from the Alutiiq Museum, as they're positioned to share most deeply the traditions of Kodiaks first people, and I know this is going to be enriching to you. Again, the links will be in the episode show notes, and on the blog that goes with today's episode.

So moving from weaving and the beautiful culture that enriched Kodiak to today's episode, I'd like for you to raise your hand if you've ever set out on a project, both needles blazing, only to discover that you were not going to finish. I know I cannot be the only one. Now, not only does this scenario come straight from my knitting life's, but I stopped knitting the very thing that I rallied my small group of friends to start with me. True story. Now, before I tell you the story, and spoiler alert, I am delighted at all the lessons I learned from that unfinished project, which I am now holding in my hands. I'm going to share those exact lessons with you. In today's episode, the one where I invite three friends to knit with me. Wait, actually, I invited three friends and my daughter and then I did not knit the project. So let's back up. Mr. Stephen West gets me every single time he's done He's just so devoted to his creative endeavors and knitting. And you can tell that he has a sincere passion to connect with other knitters and to take those knitters and move them to the fun in his knitting that he has. Well, last year, he had his twists and turns MKL, which I will briefly explain what all that is in a moment. But he can inviting knitters to join him. And this online group was huge. And as I've been needing a smaller community at this time, I opted to get my whatsapp trio involved. Also, my eldest daughter, was to be a perfect addition to the group because she's knit a variety of Stephen West's designs in the past.

So our group was a group of four plus me, five of us, I got all of us hyped up: "what fun this is going to be!" "It's okay that none of you finished the Shifty Shawl" --- see the previous episode, and you can learn more about that. "Stephen promises to hold our hand throughout the whole MKAL, MKAL?, MKAL??. What What, what, what is that? So an MKAL, an M, K, A, L stands for mystery knit along. And the overview of it, I was gonna say the neat thing, but sometimes it's not for everybody...so, the overview of this is knitters who are participating do not know what the outcome of the project, in this case a shawl, is going to look like. They instead receive weekly clues, which are portions of the knitting pattern each and every week. They work these parts together. And they are just making this project bit by bit and working together on a timeline until it's complete. Now, there were kits that were curated by Stephen West to purchase, with expertly crafted color combinations, as well as enough guidance from him to understand how to develop your own color palette if you didn't want to purchase one.

That's how I explained the MKL to the group minus Natalya because she had no further objections. She just was tickled that mom was gonna buy her a bunch of yarn, some needles, notions and patterns, so she was all in. Okay. Spoiler alert. I'm holding it right now. I am still on Clue One. Clue One dropped on October 6, 2022. This podcast is airing a little over six months later. Now, my yarn was is absolutely fabulous. I'll post pictures on the blog that goes with today's episode, so that you can see it. Now, the whole kit was amazing. It was just as amazing of anything as I could have ever wanted. The video instruction was clear. And despite my lack of progress, those videos were really motivational. I wanted to knit it well, maybe I wanted to want to knit it. No, I was really psyched. Members of our WhatsApp group gathered yarn, posted pictures and we're off to the races. Off to the races we went but I guess my tires got flat or my transmission was off something along the lines to tie in with my races and car metaphor. Oh, got it. I ran out of gas or petrol. How about that? There was just nothing in the tank. It wasn't Steven goodness. No, he was such an awesome teacher. The videos that came with the pattern. We're clear and despite not getting past clue one I iced ordered his Hiber knit along kit for the Aurora cabin shawl. Now be prepared. I hope you're sitting. I've not cast that on yet. But I'm thinking that this upcoming November will be my time to shine. So I am here with you now and holding a not even done with clue one segment. And I'm going to share with you five key takeaways that I learned from not finishing. And I hope that they will help you in your knitting journey. Friend, before I go any further, I'm going to interrupt myself, I just wanted to share something. I take what you say to me about ways to improve or things that you love. Ideas that you may have things related to this podcast I take to heart. And I just wanted to share a wonderful review that popped up. And it's by Jen TC TX. And this is what she says. I always turn to Melissa's podcast when I need a moment of calm, clarity, focus, peace, or just need to recenter myself with my crafting.

I say crafting because even though this might be a podcast about knitting, I think Melissa would agree that the thoughts and motivation she shares could relate to any craft, cross stitch spinning, weaving, paper crafts, painting, wood, turning, etc, etc, etc. Just listening to this podcast reminds me I'm not alone in my crafting journey. And all the thoughts and feelings I have as a maker are shared by every one of us, regardless of the craft we engage in. Well, Jen, you're 100%, right. I agree with you completely. And I'm also moved beyond what I could actually put into words, that you would take the time to say these wonderful things about me and the podcast. I really appreciate it. So what about you, friend? Have you taken the time to leave a review? Now's your chance, you can do it. While you're listening to me. Simply click on the encourage better podcast icon, wherever you're listening, and scroll down to where you see rate and review. If you can give me five stars, I would greatly appreciate it. And also leave some words of wisdom or a blurb, a little takeaway that you find helpful, and others may find helpful about this podcast. If you can't leave a five star review, I encourage you to reach out to me and tell me what it is that I can do to improve. Okay, now back to today's episode. So are you ready? Let's go. There is great joy, and looking to something new. New knits often hold more for us knitters than what the instructions of the pattern will lead us to create. We can get our creative spirit fed. by imagining this new pattern and exploring color possibilities. It just feels fun. And that my friends is a good thing. Number two, I can be an encouragement, or even a catalyst for others to connect to their new awesome cast on. My dear friend Barb is almost finished with her twists and turn. And cow all along the way. She has said how much that she has enjoyed this project. She acknowledged that she would have never cast this on. If I hadn't pushed her. I mean, invited her to join us. The whole experience was amazing and fun. And she got to be a part of that. Number three, I can learn new things to build my knitting skills repertoire. Even when I don't complete a large scale project, or even if I don't get through the first clue. The genius of Stephen West was apparent right away in the shawl and I learned from him a creative construction. I'm holding it right now. It was a unique way to form this tie. type of typography to my knitting. The braided effect that he created on the initial portion of this pattern was a teachable moment for me, for sure. Number four, knitting is liberating for me. And I have freedom to make choices. I'm going to say that again, knitting is liberating for me. And I have freedom to make choices. When I say choices, I mean more than choosing patterns and yarns and colors. I also mean, recognizing something is not the best fit for me. And I do not have to finish it. By completing it. They do not have to finish it to come by completing it. Finishing can actually look like assessing how far I've come and being thankful for the progress that I made. Right? It can be acknowledging that the moments be the pleasurable, mindless, confusing, challenging, tricky, exciting moments of singing Hallelujah, or moments wearing quietly under my breath. I am not a failure, because I choose not to finish a nit. I am not a failure, because I choose not to finish the knit. And number five, progress, dear knitter is not linear. I knit my shifty shawl and I loved it. Actually, I'm still wearing it today. I put it on earlier this morning for a walk. And when I came back to record this, I am still wearing it. I knit my shifty shawl. And when I say I love it, I love it. Still, I thought after knitting it that another shawl was going to be the thing to do. It seemed the next step in the process. A B, C D, knit the shawl, try another one. Now, casting on the twists and turns was great fun. Seeing others final project has been inspiring. And it is also not for me at this moment. I love the shawl that others are creating. And I don't want to finish the one that I started. Both are true. And there's nothing wrong with that. I hope the five lessons that I learned and shared have something tucked into them that resonates with you. And if so, I'd love to hear it. Feel free to get into the comments on my blog post. With your thoughts. I linked it in the show notes. And it's also WWW dot encouraged better.com forward slash twists and turns, twists and turns. Or you can email me with your story perhaps of an object that you didn't finish. I'm Melissa that encouraged better.com One last bit of housekeeping for today. I hope that you did enjoy our time together. And if you find these podcasts are fun, then you're gonna love what I'm about to share. Now. I have something really special, incredibly fun and amazing happening at the end of May. I'm not going to keep you in suspense. I'm going to go ahead and tell you we are going to be able to sit together and have a good time for a free virtual knitting retreat. That's right, free. Lots of knitting fun for any and all with free patterns, fun learning activities, lots of laughter and it won't cost you a dime. If you are an email subscriber that is that's the only way you can get in. Yep, that's all it costs is to have your email subscription with me and you'll get the invitation to register for the limited spaces for this In amazing, incredible, absolutely fantastic time of creative momentum together. Now if you're not on the email list, no problem, I will have you just drop into the show notes and click the link and add yourself to the VIP list. Or you can go to www dot encouraged better.com and you'll see where you can sign up details about this wonderful virtual knitting retreat are going to be coming soon. And I just got to tell you, I'm having so much fun these last several weeks of planning and I'm just delighted to have the opportunity to connect with you. So get on the email list and get ready because your invitation will be headed out soon. Aloha for now.